Judges 20:20–32

²⁰The men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took their battle positions against Gibeah. ²¹The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and slaughtered twenty-two thousand men of Israel on the field that day. ²²But the Israelite troops rallied and again took their battle positions in the same place where they positioned themselves on the first day. ²³They went up, wept^g before the Lord until evening,^h and inquired of him, “Should we again attack our brothers the Benjaminites?”

And the Lord answered, “Fight against them.”

²⁴On the second day the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites. ²⁵That same day the Benjaminites came out from Gibeah to meet them and slaughtered an additional eighteen thousand Israelites on the field; all were armed.

²⁶The whole Israelite army went to Bethel where they wept and sat before the Lord.ⁱ They fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. ²⁷Then the Israelites inquired of the Lord. In those days, the ark of the covenant^j of God was there, ²⁸and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron,^k was serving before it. The Israelites asked, “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites or should we stop?”

The Lord answered, “Fight, because I will hand them over to you tomorrow.”^{l 29}So Israel set up an ambush^m around Gibeah. ³⁰On the third day the Israelites fought against the Benjaminites and took their battle positions against Gibeah as before. ³¹Then the Benjaminites came out against the troops and were drawn away from the city.ⁿ They began to attack the troops as before, killing about thirty men of Israel on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah through the open country. ³²The Benjaminites said, “We are defeating them as before.”

But the Israelites said, “Let’s flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.”